Paul KRUGMAN's "Bad Novel" (IOKIYAR)

[nostamj]

<snip>
In my bad novel, apologists for the administration will charge foreign policy critics with anti-Semitism. But they will be silent when a prominent conservative declares that "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular."

In my bad novel the administration will use the slogan "support the troops" to suppress criticism of its war policy. But it will ignore repeated complaints that the troops lack armor.

The secretary of defense - another "good man," according to the president - won't even bother signing letters to the families of soldiers killed in action.

Last but not least, in my bad novel the president, who portrays himself as the defender of good against evil, will preside over the widespread use of torture.

How did we find ourselves living in a bad novel? It was not ever thus. Hypocrites, cranks and scoundrels have always been with us, on both sides of the aisle. But 9/11 created an environment some liberals summarize with the acronym Iokiyar: it's O.K. if you're a Republican.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/opinion/07krugman.html?oref=login

Nostamj_blog

[acmavm]

1. Read that earlier. Sometimes I'm amazed that the pandering bastards

that run the NYT allow Krugman and Herbert to have a column. But I guess they figure might as well give something to the realists and people with intellect or they would lose a big chunk of their readers.

The NYT is back to being bird cage liner except for the articles of those two gentlemen.

[Jacobin]

2. Also Oliphant and Toles on the cartoon page

Otherwise it is a RW rag, not fit for the bottom of a decent bird's cage.

[nostamj]

3. you forgot Danziger!

what, is he polish or something? ;-)

[mhr]

4. In My Bad Novel, 10.2 Million New Jobs Never Get Created

Employment Picture Still Dreary
Comstock Funds
January 06, 2005

Whatever the December payroll employment report shows tomorrow, it can’t come close to making a dent in the serious jobs shortfall of the current economic expansion. Here’s why. The NBER officially designated November 2001 as the bottom of the last recession, meaning that the November report marked the third anniversary of the upturn. During this 36-month period total non-farm payroll employment increased only 0.9%, a number that pales in comparison to past cycles. Over the last seven economic expansions the average rise for a comparable period was 8.7%. If that were the case on the current cycle there would have been 10.2 million more jobs than the total number reported for November, and the average monthly increase for the 36-month period would have been 316,000 per month. Instead the average monthly rise was a paltry 33,000, and even over the past 12 months when employment picked up somewhat, the average monthly increase came to only 171,000, a far cry from the typical cyclical increase. In fact only three months of the 36 showed increases of more than 300,000 jobs.

Snip ......

http://www.comstockfunds.com/screenprint.cfm?newsletterid=1155

[LeftCoast]

5. Great Krugman article!

He always writes well, but his last two have be really excellent.

[nostamj]

6. kick